


Missing

by Small_Hobbit



Category: Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle
Genre: Gen, Retirement
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-30
Updated: 2018-09-30
Packaged: 2019-07-20 16:47:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16141397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Small_Hobbit/pseuds/Small_Hobbit
Summary: Watson is on his own.





	Missing

**Author's Note:**

> Written for DW's Watson's Woes "Absence" prompt
> 
> Warning - without giving the plot away, this is not a happy fic.

I woke and realised I was alone, Holmes having departed whilst I slept. I listened for a while, but there was no sound, so I tried the door. It was locked; there was no hope for escape. I returned to the chair and thought. After a while I decided to try the window, but it, too, would not open. I was forced to face the truth, that I had been abandoned, cast aside like a worn glove with a hole in one finger, no longer needed.

***

Sherlock Holmes unlocked the door, and was greeted by Watson’s cry, “Holmes, you came back for me.”

“Of course I did, dear fellow,” Holmes replied. “Didn’t you read the note I left for you? I said I was going to meet our new housekeeper from the train. I was only gone for half an hour, and you were asleep when I left.”

“Mrs Hudson?” Watson asked.

“She’s on holiday for a couple of weeks. She says the sea air will help clear her head after all my noxious fumes.” Holmes held up a hand to the woman who had followed him in, so that she would not contradict him. “This is Mrs Noakes.”

“Good afternoon,” Watson said. “I hope your journey was not too tiring.”

“Not at all, thank you, sir,” Mrs Noakes replied.

“I’ll just show Mrs Noakes where to put her things,” Holmes said. “I’ll be back shortly.”

Holmes escorted Mrs Noakes to her room. “You understand my wish to have someone in the cottage with him at all times,” he said. “He becomes confused so easily now.”

“Yes, sir. But you said he is not violent. I notice the door was locked.”

“And the windows are bolted. No, he is not at all violent, but he tends to wander if left alone. From my observations he is quite happy so long as he can hear sounds of others within the cottage, so there is no need to sit with him all the time. Do you have any other questions?”

“I understand I am not to wear my nurse’s uniform, but would an apron be acceptable?”

“Of course. There would be nothing untoward in that.”

Mrs Noakes took an apron out her suitcase and put it on. “I shall begin my duties by making a pot of tea,” she said.

She looked into the parlour, where Watson was sitting peacefully in his armchair. “Cup of tea, doctor?” she asked.

“Thank you, Mrs Hudson,” Watson replied. “With maybe a biscuit or two?”


End file.
